1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to ergonomic hand held devices. More specifically, the invention relates to user interface display and input technologies in a hand held electronic device.
2. Background
Hand held devices with some level of display capability including hand held computers, personal digital assistants (“PDA's”), cell phones and digital cameras. Displays on hand held devices suffer from a variety of deficiencies. Among these deficiencies are poor resolution, small size and poor readability under both bright and dim ambient conditions. Moreover, these limitations are additive in that small size contributes to poor readability and necessitates reduced resolution.
Digital cameras are increasingly common. Typical digital cameras have a view finder and also a display on which pictures taken may be viewed, typically at a reduced resolution. On some cameras, the display may be used as a substitute view finder for framing the picture to be taken. However, most of these displays suffer from severe degradation as a result of ambient light in bright environments. Even for the camera on which such displays are suitable view finders, the display tends to be inferior to a view with the naked eye and difficult or uncomfortable to use for long-term viewing.
Also, digital cameras and common hand-held devices such as hand-held computers, etc., have relatively poor ergonomics in existing designs. For example, typical digital cameras have a generally rectangular form factor in which it is difficult to get one's eye to the view finder without interference from the hand holding the camera. Moreover, holding the camera in a ready position is relatively uncomfortable over time.